Anecdotes of a Small Child
by AngelOfFluffiness
Summary: Companion to my current Elsword series. Seris and Raven's son reflects considerably on life and the group his parents live with. He finds interest in any little thing as the 3 year old narrates his thoughts on life with the ElGang. After all, three year old's know ways about life too. With hilarity and time on his hands, Cedric enjoys the relationships and weirdness of his new home
1. Story 1: Relation of Aging and Weirdness

**Hello everyone! This is a companion story to my Elsword story series consisting of _Relearning the Seraph _and _Finding the Blazing Heart._**

_**Relearning the Seraph **_**is story one of the series, mainly an ElsEve. It gives the main premise that the series is founded on, as well as why Seris is alive.****  
**

**Yes, Seris is alive. Relearning the Seraph explains why, but this story gives an inklet of a hint too.**

_**Finding the Blazing Heart**_**is the second story in the series and is a relationship between Chung and Elesis. It also contains a Pichu. **

**This story is easier understood by reading both stories. Both of stories contain the relationship between Seris and Raven, with their son Cedric. This story mainly focuses on the relationship within that miniature family. It is told entirely from Cedric's view. Because of this, the story does have a childlike language and storytelling format. **

**Please understand this if the language seems a little estranged.**

**I do not own Elsword or its characters. But I ship Elsword and Eve, Raven and Seris, and Chung with Elesis. **

**I own my conceptual format of Seris; including her class I made called Body of Light. My boyfriend and I share joint ownership of Cedric.**

**Please enjoy and review!**

****Eve: **Code: Nemesis  
**Elsword: **Rune Slayer  
**Rena: **Wind Sneaker  
**Raven: **Blade Master  
**Aisha: ** Dimensional Witch  
**Chung:** Deadly Chaser  
**Ara: **Sakra Devanam  
**Elesis: **Blazing Heart**

* * *

**Anecdotes of a Small Child**

**~/~**

**Story 1: The Relation of Aging and Weirdness**

_'My family is weird. I blame aging. Oh well, they're the best though!'_

"Hey mommy?"

"Ceddy, sweetie, its your bedtime."

"But mommy...I have an important question..."

So maybe I have a bit of a way with words despite my youth. But that's because my mommy is really, really smart. She's also a really good teacher. Plus we've been around many, many people during our time in the forest place. I liked it there! However, it is a lot nicer here with my mommy, daddy, and their friends. Two of them have been appointed as my aunt and uncle. I don't know exactly what that means, but mommy says its family, and that she'll teach me the words in due time. Family is really special; a group of people related or unrelated that watch out for one another and take care of each other. She says that's what everyone we live with is; a special family. That makes me really happy, because back in the forest, she and I only had one another as family. More family is better, right? I think so!

"Alright honey, what is it?"

"Why do you and daddy fight with those large metal things?"

"Swords, you mean? Well your daddy is trying to help mommy become stronger so that I can help him, and the group here, better in defending the world."

"You're going to save the world, mommy?" I cried in excitement.

She laughed softly, "Not alone sweetie. Your daddy, aunt, uncle, and all the rest too."

"You promise mommy?"

"I promise Cedric, I promise."

"Yay! Thank you mommy. I love you."

"Mommy loves you too sweetheart. So does Daddy," She smiled, glancing over to where my daddy slept beside her.

I usually sleep on top of my mommy, but sometimes I sleep on top of both. Tonight, its a both kind of night. I have a very strange family, but they're all really special to me. Besides, I think they're probably weird because they are all older than me. I'm almost four, but mommy says everyone here is much older than me; some even by four times. I asked her what four times means, but she says that's something called multiplication that I'm not ready to learn yet. I wonder if that means I have to learn when I get older like my aunt and uncle...or maybe as old as my mommy and daddy. I'm sure she'll tell me sometime.

"Mommy?"

She sighed, "Sweetie..."

"I know mommy, I know! But mommy, I want to hear a story."

"A story. Hmm...what kind of story?"

"Tell me one about you, mommy. Please...?"

"Hmmm...well. Have I ever told you that you're a miracle?"

"A miracle! What's a miracle mommy?"

"A miracle is a very good thing that is usually unexpected and typically against general explanation. You see sweetie, mommy wasn't supposed to be alive to have you. In fact, I wasn't awake for most of the time I carried you."

"Mommy, how did you carry me in your arms if you weren't awake?"

"You weren't in my arms honey. It's a long story, I'll explain some other time. Anyway, when I think about it, I suspect someone must have been taking care of me during the time; I calculate that I was sleeping for about five months before you woke me up."

"That's a long time to sleep Mommy. Were you lazy? And I woke you up?"

"Yes sweetie, Mommy was lazy," She giggled a bit, "-you were ready to be what's called born. Which is miraculous for you to have been born, because Mommy wasn't supposed to live."

"I'm glad you lived, Mommy! I bet Daddy is happy too!"

"Yes, Daddy is happy," came a slightly ruffled voice, mostly sleepy.

"Daddy!" I cheered.

He rubbed his eyes a bit with the hand that's kind of like Mommy's, and not the strange large one that has metal on it. Ruffling his black hair, he looked at me with soft smile as his gold eyes blink a few more times. Apparently Mommy and I woke Daddy up! He chuckled softly, sitting up slightly to press his lips to my mommy's cheek, and then my head.

"What's wrong, my favorite two people in the world? Can't sleep?" he asks.

Mommy giggled gently, "Ceddy is being rather restless. He asked me to tell him a story about me, so I told him about his birth being a miracle since I shouldn't have been alive for it."

His smile left his face slightly, a blank look over him for a bit. Mommy patted his shoulder though, and like magic, Daddy was okay again! I was glad too, because Daddy looks weird when he stops smiling. It makes me feel really sad, but then I feel better when Mommy fixes it.

"That's a nice story Seris," He replied finally.

"Yes, well I thought he'd like it. I was actually just recalling our reunion, Raven," She answered.

"Mommy, what's a reunion?"

"It's when two or more people that haven't seen each other in a long time meet back up,."

"Oh I see!"

"Alright Ceddy, honey, you need to go to sleep."

"What Mommy said. It's late."

"Okay Mommy, okay Daddy."

But even as they go to sleep, I cannot help but continue thinking about everyone. There are quite a few people around her; Mommy, Daddy, Aunt Eve, Uncle Elsword, Mister Chung, Miss Ara, Miss Aisha, Miss Elesis, and Miss Rena. Mommy taught me to be very polite to everyone, so she has me call everyone either with my family titles or with the Mister or Miss thing in the front. She says she'll teach me more about it someday. When my mommy and I lived in the big forest, we traveled with two people that were a couple like my mommy and daddy. She had me call them Miss Lady and Mister Liam. I don't understand why the lady's name was Lady but they went away from my mommy and I a lot. I once asked Mommy why they went away a lot, but she got very red in the face when we heard a lot of strange noises from where they went. Mommy finally told me that sometimes small groups of people go off to have some fun by themselves. I asked her what they did for fun, but Mommy gave me a shrug. When I asked her what that meant, she said that people do it when they don't know the answer to something, are confused, or don't want to respond.

"Mommy?" I whispered, "Are you awake?"

She's not. Oh well...

It has come to my attention through my many events with my mommy and daddy, as well as everyone in the house that anyone older than me...is weird to me. I blame age for my view on this, but that is okay. I like being young, it's just that everyone older than me is crazy, weird, funny, and still really awesome. That makes me happy though, because then everyone I meet is different, and I think that's really special. Besides, everyone in this house is really nice to me...even when they're being weird. Mommy and Daddy are really great, and I'm really glad they got to have their reunion. Mommy was always having moments where she was sad back in the forest, but she never looks so sad with Daddy beside her anymore, especially when the three of us are with all of the others. I really love my family! Even when they argue with each other, do silly things, and be goofballs. Or vanish randomly.

I love them all.

Even if they are all very weird...I blame age.

* * *

**I'll continue adding anecdotes to this as I find them in my writing soul.**

**Until then, you can find more of Cedric in Relearning the Seraph and Finding the Blazing Heart.**

**Hope you enjoyed and will review!**


	2. Story 2: Wedding Antics

**Hello everyone! This is a companion story to my Elsword story series consisting of _Relearning the Seraph _and _Finding the Blazing Heart._**

_**Relearning the Seraph **_**is story one of the series, mainly an ElsEve. It gives the main premise that the series is founded on, as well as why Seris is alive.****  
**

**Yes, Seris is alive. Relearning the Seraph explains why, but this story gives an inklet of a hint too.**

_**Finding the Blazing Heart**_**is the second story in the series and is a relationship between Chung and Elesis. It also contains a Pichu. **

**This story is easier understood by reading both stories. Both of stories contain the relationship between Seris and Raven, with their son Cedric. This story mainly focuses on the relationship within that miniature family. It is told entirely from Cedric's view. Because of this, the story does have a childlike language and storytelling format. **

**Please understand this if the language seems a little estranged.**

**I do not own Elsword or its characters. But I ship Elsword and Eve, Raven and Seris, and Chung with Elesis. **

**I own my conceptual format of Seris; including her class I made called Body of Light. My boyfriend and I share joint ownership of Cedric.**

**Please enjoy and review!**

* * *

**Anecdotes of a Small Child**

**~/~**

**Story 2: Wedding Antics**

"_So maybe Daddy shouldn't have drank that punch then, Mommy?"_

Before Mommy and I became members of the family with Daddy, Aunt Eve, and Uncle Elsword, things were very different when we got here. My first sight of Daddy was of him yelling at Uncle Elsword about misunderstandings and my Mommy. It didn't make any sense...and then Mommy put me in a gigantic piece of clothing that she said was a tank top...I could have sworn it was more like the piece of clothing she once wore in the forest since it was open at the bottom like a shirt but long like Mommy's single piece of clothing. I think she said that was called a dress, but I don't remember, because she said I didn't have to worry about those since I wore 'boy's clothing' and would learn some other time. Mommy uses that some other time excuse a lot, but I think she means well with it. Aunt Eve and Uncle Elsword were very different too, plus Mommy and I didn't even know Daddy was Daddy. For those times, he was Mister Raven instead; Mister Raven, Miss Eve, and Mister Elsword. When Mommy and I first met the later two, Miss Eve actually fainted after a bit of talking. It was later explained to me by Mommy that apparently she and Miss Eve were both having troubles with their memories.

She then explained that there were different reasons though, and that things were a bit harder for Miss Eve. I shrugged it off, but I wasn't happy when Mommy and I were later in the room with them when Miss Eve wouldn't wake up while saying weird things about something called data. Since then, Miss Eve has actually changed in appearance; her hair is shorter and her outfit thing is much different now. She also is a lot nicer, less scary, and happier with Uncle Elsword. Mommy and Daddy are better now too since Mommy got her memory of him back; which finally gave me my Daddy that Mommy had always said existed somewhere. After everyone got better, Mommy told me that we were going to have something called 'weddings' for her and Daddy, plus Aunt Eve and Uncle Elsword. She explained to me that weddings are a type of union, and are very important. I didn't understand why, they sounded boring. Mommy also told me that I would be the 'ring bearer' for both weddings. I still didn't understand it but now I was a part of this thing that sounded really...really boring.

"Mommy...this sounds boring..."

"Ceddy, sweetie...I can assure you it will be anything but. However, I promise that Daddy and I are being married first. Then I'm going to be with you throughout the second wedding since Daddy has to be Uncle Elsword's best man. That means we're both playing the part of ring bearer for Aunt Eve and Uncle Elsword's wedding. Doesn't that make you happy, sweetie?"

"I guess so Mommy, but why do rings need bears? I thought you said bears were scary Mommy..." I pouted, recalling our run in with a big fuzzy thing in the forest, "Also Mommy...I'm not a bear...I'm a Cedric...and you aren't a bear...you're a Mommy."

"Not bear, sweetie...bearer. It means you have the rings that the couples will exchange."

"But why do I have the rings that they have to exchange Mommy? Shouldn't they have those?"

"You'll be bringing them to each couple on a pillow."

"Mommy...that makes no sense...why do rings need pillows? You said things that are called 'inanimate' do not sleep, eat, talk, move, drink, or anything else. Then you gave me a whole list of things that are called inanimate...and I swear you said rings..."

She sighed slowly, shaking her head, "Sweetie, please...Mommy doesn't understand it either, but she's counting on her and Daddy's little soldier."

I sighed too, copying Mommy, "Okay Mommy I'll try...just because I'm Mommy and Daddy's little soldier..."

"Hurray! Thank you, Soldier Ceddy," She smiled, hugging me close and kissing my forehead.

"Okay Mommy...you're weird Mommy..."

"I'm not weird Ceddy. I'm just...nervous and happy."

"Mommy, you said that nervous is scared...and happy is not scared...why would you have two emotions like that at once?"

"You'll understand someday, Ceddy."

"Seris, sweetie, Ara needs you downstairs. Here, I'll take Ceddy."

"Oh! Okay, Raven."

"Mommy..." I sighed before she could get moving.

"Yes, dear?"

"You're weird."

She just laughed softly at me before getting up from where she was and handing me off to Daddy. After she kissed his cheek, my cheek, and went to find Miss Ara, Daddy sat down with me with a much more nervous look on his face than Mommy had. Mommy had been happy looking, but Daddy looked the nervous part. Maybe he was sad and needed Mommy's help, so I decided to try to get Mommy back. After all, Mommy always made him very happy even when he was sad.

"Mommy! Daddy looks-!"

"Shh, shh, shh...Daddy's fine..."

"Oh...but Daddy, you look sad. Mommy fixes sad, because Mommy is magic, so shouldn't we get Mommy?"

He smiled softly and shook his head, "I'm not sad, I'm just a bit nervous. Weddings are a big deal, and I have to be in two of them."

"I think weddings sound boring Daddy..."

"Well, they can be to some people. Hopefully the two in a couple of weeks are nice and fun. Besides, I've been waiting for this one for a long time."

"I guess so Daddy...but if you're so happy about it, why are you scared about it?"

"Nah, it's just...sort of overwhelming. Maybe a bit anxious."

"Daddy...I don't know what those mean."

"Oh right ah..."

After Daddy explains both of the words, I finally understand what he means. I guess marrying Mommy must be really important to him...well that makes me happy. Funnily enough, there are many words I don't know, but I also know some really big words such as xylopyrography. That's because Mommy and I knew a person that did that though, so there are still many words Mommy hasn't gotten to teach me. Good thing I have two teachers now; two really smart, weird, awesome teachers. Daddy snuggles me close, ruffling my hair with his regular hand. I take pause to look at his metal claw, touching it softly with my hands. Mommy said that lots of bad things happened to Daddy to cause this...it makes me upset that someone hurt my Daddy like this.

"Daddy..."

"Yes Cedric?"

"Why...why did someone hurt you like this?"

"I..."

I peered up at him, watching his face pale as he shook his head, clenching his hands slightly. His face became stone set and he started to shake a bit. My lip began to tremble as I watched his face change into complete sadness, before he finally sighed softly.

"I don't want to talk about it Ceddy..."

"Oh...s...sorry Daddy..."

"It's okay sweetheart. It's just...not something I like talking on. I much rather talk about why your mother is the love of my life."

"We can talk about that too."

"Well..." He pondered for a minute, before smiling softly.

"Tell me Daddy!" I cried to him excitedly.

So Daddy began to tell me about how much Mommy meant to him and how great she was to him. It made me happy to hear too, all these nice things about Mommy and such. He told me about how Mommy had made his world a brighter place and how she was always by his side no matter what. In return, Daddy said he was always helping her train so she would be better with her swordplay and such. Apparently Mommy wasn't very good at first when she had first joined the knight army and everything, which usually made her not feel so useful to them. So Daddy helped Mommy a lot and she came to mean lots and lots to him, which means he loves her a lot. While he talked about Mommy, I noticed he became happier too...and this made me really happy. My Mommy really meant a lot to him, didn't she? I was glad...I was really glad...Mommy and Daddy deserved to be happy and everything. It was better on their faces than sadness was...

"Hey Cedric...I have a question for you, son..."

I still don't understand what son means, but Mommy said its another family term.

"Yes Daddy?"

"You're okay with me marrying Mommy, right?"

There was a small smile on his face and I understood that Daddy actually wanted my true feelings about this. But why? Why did he want to know that? Silly Daddy...I guess its part of being a silly adult person...or something. Oh well...I decided to go along with it since Daddy wanted my input.

"Of course Daddy! You and Mommy make each other happy!"

"And you know it means we'll still take care of you right?"

"You better!" I laughed at him.

He smiled at me, before pulling me close to him, "Don't worry son, Mommy and I will always take care of you. I promise."

"Thanks Daddy. For caring for Mommy and me...I love you."

"I love you too son...you and Mommy."

"We love you too Daddy...hey, Daddy?"

"Yes son?"

"Mommy says I have to be a bearer for the rings. Can I be a bear instead? I promise not to be a scary bear! I'll be a good bear!"

He chuckled softly, "I'm sure Mommy and I can work with that."

"Hurray!"

Daddy and Mommy are very strange sometimes, as are all of the others. I blame aging still, so it's really okay, but I love them and everyone else in the house. So I served as my Mommy and Daddy's ring bear; Mommy even let me wear a brown bear-ear headband with my child's suit, which was navy blue. Daddy had to wear an article of clothing called a tuxedo, and so did Mister Elsword. My Daddy wore a white one and Mister Elsword wore a black one. Mommy and Miss Eve had to wear special dresses called 'wedding gowns,' and they looked really nice; Mommy's was green and purple, while Miss Eve's was white and silver. My Mommy taught me all of the colors and I like them all a lot, because they are very nice. I also served as Aunt Eve and Uncle Elsword's ring bear, but Mommy got to go with me for that. Which was when she told them that they were now my aunt and uncle, and taught me to call them that way from then on. After the wedding, Mommy carried me around during a big huge party she told me was called a wedding reception, where people drank and ate food. Mommy and I mostly stayed around this special table made for us, because it had child stuff like juice boxes and children's snacks. She said it was important because she could make sure I wouldn't eat anything that would give me a tummy ache, but I think it was because of this red drink stuff that was on the other table that made people act weird.

"Mommy, why is everyone starting to act strange?"

"I'm...not exactly sure..." She murmured, sounding confused.

Okay, so maybe it was because of the tummy ache thing. So what was going on?

"But this tastes like...who did this?" yelled my Daddy.

Mommy looked more confused now as he ran from the table. I looked around a bit, noticing that Aunt Eve and Uncle Elsword hadn't gotten any of the red stuff. I realized this was because they were watching Miss Elesis stumble around slightly, after drinking two cups. My new aunt and uncle looked horrified now as Mister Chung starting drinking cup after cup, his face beginning to turn very red. Mommy took a tighter hold on me, and I began to get really confused as the blond man stumbled over to Uncle Elsword, while Miss Elesis dragged my Daddy back into the room.

"Who cares who did it?" she yelled, "Drinkkkkk with me!"

She snatched Mister Chung away from where he was going, "You...you're coming too!"

"Yay! More punch!"

"Now wait a minute! I have a wife and son to get to!"

"They'll be fine-e-e-e-e-e! Come on! Rena and I don't want to get drunk by ourselves!"

"What..." Uncle Elsword managed.

"Elsword, we should run," Aunt Eve stated.

"Good idea..."

Mommy and I watched in horror, as well as confusion. You see, Mommy looked an emotion she told me is called 'horrified' and I felt very confused so I am sure I looked confused. Why was Miss Elesis kidnapping my Daddy and yelling at him about drinking like a man. I was sure Mommy wanted to go over there, but she seemed torn about doing so for some reason, and she kept glancing between me and Daddy. Uncle Elsword was already carrying Aunt Eve out of the room...and they did not look like they were coming back. There was a point when Mommy sat down with me in her lap, made me a plate of food with a juice, and sat there with her, her arms wrapped around me as I ate. I wondered still what Mommy was so worried about.

"Eyyyy, Elesis, my boobs bounce!"

"Shut up Rena! No one cares about your ugly boobs, perv!"

"I can't believe you guys dragged me here to get drunk and listen to you yell about boobs. Poor Chung already passed out..."

"You're just jealous cause I have boobs."

"Am not! They probably hurt your old back!"

"Who are you calling old?"

"Ladies, ladies shut up..." Daddy groaned, hiccupping lightly as he handed each of the girls another cup of punch each.

"Aisha, Chung passed out..."

"So? This punch is great!"

"Aisha, it's alcoholic! W...what have you...?"

"It's great!"

Miss Ara looked horrified as she went to Mister Chung, and carefully began to drag him from the room. Mommy frowned deeply at this point and tightened hold on me as she fixated her eyes on my Daddy, who was still drinking punch with Miss Rena and Miss Elesis. I couldn't help but start feeling worried now. Daddy didn't look too good...and neither did they. In fact, Miss Rena fell on the floor, and Miss Elesis solidly burst up laughing like a hyena; Mommy says those laugh weirdly and loudly, though they are animals. I don't really care, I just like comparing things is all. At this point, my Daddy facepalmed slightly.

"Rena, get up...this was your fault...you did this...get up..."

"Noooo, we're out of punch! The punch theives stole it!" wailed Miss Elesis.

"Actually..." Daddy grumbled, rubbing his head, "I'm pretty sure fifty percent of it is in your stomach."

"More punch per cent? Yay! I'll go find cents..."

"Try to find your sense too!" yelled Daddy, groaning now.

"I already said I'd find some cents!"

Mommy stood up now, taking my plate, juice, and me with her. Aunt Eve, Uncle Elsword, Miss Ara, and Mister Chung were already gone...plus Miss Rena and Miss Aisha were on the ground. Except Miss Aisha was laughing and Miss Rena was snoring so...I don't know what that was all about. As Miss Elesis complained about the lack of punch, Mommy immediately grabbed my Daddy's arm and rushed us from the room with him stumbling. As soon as she got us upstairs to our room, my Daddy collapsed onto the bed groaning.

"Seris..." he murmured, "God I'm sorry..."

She patted his hair, sitting down as she held me to let me finish my meal. So I listened to them while I ate, although I really didn't care what they were talking about. I mean, Mommy gave me some really good food to eat so I was very interested in that to be honest. But I did listen, I mean that was the least I could do since Mommy was still holding me and stuff. Poor Daddy, he sounded sick...but I'm sure Mommy can fix him. She always makes him happy, and she's always been there for him. I mean, Daddy said so himself. She was there when nobody else was, and that makes me really happy because it means that my Mommy, _**my**_ Mommy is a very great person!

"Sweetie, don't be. Elsword's sister just went a little nuts...and so did Rena. But I'm curious...who put alcohol in the punch."

"I don't know..." He moaned, "Elesis said Rena did it, but she swore up and down that it was Aisha."

"Grief...Elsword and Eve were smart. They left when they saw what was going on."

"You kept Cedric with you at the special table. That was...very wise..."

"Here love, let me get you some water and aspirin."

She carefully set me aside and go get those things as my Daddy thanked her. Smiling as she returned, she gently helped him take those, before tucking him in. Once I finished, she cleaned up, bathed me, and gently brought us to go rest with Daddy. It wasn't hard to fall asleep...after all, I was a bear today. Bears carry rings and watch people do weird things at receptions. So it was long and tiring day for me, in my day of life as a bear. Being a bear was pretty fun though...I hope Daddy's okay though. I guess Daddy shouldn't have drunk that punch though...huh Mommy? Oh wait, she's asleep. Oh well...I'll remember not to let anyone around me drink punch anymore. That's weird stuff.

* * *

**Enjoy and review! Love you all!**


	3. Story 3: Day of the Stomach's Doom

**Hello everyone! This is a companion story to my Elsword story series consisting of _Relearning the Seraph _and _Finding the Blazing Heart._**

_**Relearning the Seraph **_**is story one of the series, mainly an ElsEve. It gives the main premise that the series is founded on, as well as why Seris is alive.****  
**

**Yes, Seris is alive. Relearning the Seraph explains why, but this story gives an inklet of a hint too.**

_**Finding the Blazing Heart**_**is the second story in the series and is a relationship between Chung and Elesis. It also contains a Pichu. **

**This story is easier understood by reading both stories. Both of stories contain the relationship between Seris and Raven, with their son Cedric. This story mainly focuses on the relationship within that miniature family. It is told entirely from Cedric's view. Because of this, the story does have a childlike language and storytelling format. **

**Please understand this if the language seems a little estranged.**

**I do not own Elsword or its characters. But I ship Elsword and Eve, Raven and Seris, and Chung with Elesis. **

**I own my conceptual format of Seris; including her class I made called Body of Light. My boyfriend and I share joint ownership of Cedric.**

**Please enjoy and review!**

* * *

**Anecdotes of a Small Child**

**~/~ **

**Story 3: **Day of the Stomach's Doom

_'Welcome home Daddy...don't eat the food...please...'_

So one of the biggest things I'm scared of is stomach pains now, and there's a reason for that. One time, sometime after Aunt Eve and Uncle Elsword were married, I had to be cared for by Miss Elesis and Mister Chung. You see, usually I was rotated between my parents and my new aunt and uncle each day. However, both pairs had to be out that day, and no one else was around because Miss Ara, Miss Aisha, and Miss Rena all had things to do. So since it was Mister Chung's day to cook the dinner for that evening, and Miss Elesis was free, they both volunteered to watch me for the day. It started out to be just fine; I was given my hugs and kisses by mama and daddy first thing in the morning like always. Aunt Eve and Uncle Elsword both made some breakfast for everyone before they left, which meant that I got some eggs and toast to eat. That made me happy, because I love that meal; it's one of my favorites now for breakfast. Used to be that all Mama and I could get in the forest were random berries...I mean, I like berries, but they don't do much in mass amounts. Eventually they just...don't taste okay anymore. Sometimes we'd come across nice people and get some help, but it was always rare. I had to hear Mama tell people that she really didn't know anything of herself a lot.

I don't ever hear it now that Mama has Daddy with her, since he helped her remember who she was. Apparently they were really important to one another before, but I still don't have that who story yet; Mama and Daddy say I'm still too young. Anyway, I got off topic again; Mama says I tend to do that and that it's okay because I'm too young to completely stay on topic. After breakfast, everyone left except for my caretakers. I still wish I could go with them, but its the same old 'too young' thing, which I guess makes sense. I'm three and shorter than everyone; it's a tiny number and I'm a small child; so its not like Mama and Daddy are lying to me. I'm really proud of Mama and Daddy anyway, because they always look so wonderful together. Mama always goes out with beautiful dresses over her armor that was made for her by some person out in a town that Daddy says is called Elder. She always looks nice, Daddy tells her so, and I just know that we belong here so we won't ever be in that cruel forest by ourselves ever again. So once everyone left, I had to walk over to Miss Elesis and Mister Chung; they're a lot more normal and stuff now since Daddy says the punch left their systems a long time ago from that punch incident on the wedding day. I still have my bear costume, because Mama says it is now a thing called a 'keepsake' that I need to make sure stays safe.

"Alright squirt-"

"My name isn't squirt..." I responded before Miss Elesis finished her sentence.

"Hey! Didn't you Mama tell you not to interrupt others?"

"Yes. But Mama also says calling people names is bad."

Miss Elesis huffed at me, "Chung! Squirt's no fun!"

"Come on Elesis! Be nice!" protested Mister Chung.

"Yeah..." I responded with my face on that Mama says is called a 'pout.'

She sighed and tossed her red hair over her shoulder while rolling her eyes at both me as well as her teammate. It went on normally after then, with them two squabbling once in awhile while they managed to keep an eye on me while I play around with old deactivated drones. You see, Aunt Eve often gets upgrades over her Moby and Remy drones, so she has a new set of them every few weeks; which means I have all of the old, deactivated ones as toys. They're small and everything so she figured it was fine, and although my Daddy was nervous about it at first, it ended up being considered harmless. So I have an army of former fighters, all of which I've renamed, and I think they're all amazing to be honest. I enjoy it, so that's what counts according to Mama and Daddy. So I do that while I am forced to listen to Mister Chung's rant to Miss Elesis about how to take care of kids, with Miss Elesis yelling that she was important in raising Uncle Elsword so she knows what she's doing.

I stop listening since I'm too busy having two of the drones play house with their new baby drone Aunt Eve just gave me yesterday. Another one is yelling at his small army, and another one is teaching a school class. The collection and possibilities are endless, while I just narrowly catch ear of Miss Elesis telling Mister Chung to get out of the way so she can cook a proper nutritional meal for a growing child. It was probably there, when I got a scary feeling in me that Mama says is called 'premonition' that I should have known bad things were going to happen to me. Still, I was too busy having two drones get married and adopt their baby, having Captain Droner yell at his army, and having Miss White teach her student drones about colors. So I didn't notice the scary feeling, and I didn't listen to the conversation. Worse than that, I didn't even pay any attention when the house started having a really gross smell go through it, nor did I pay any mind to Mister Chung's horrified shout about how bad the scent was.

I should have, and I really wish I had.

Once my drones were married and in their cardboard box house, Captain Droner took his army to their boot camp in another box, and Miss White's class went to recess. I then was able to get my paints and continuing painting these particular drones I had been painting. Mama told me that with my imagination, I could make the drones that Aunt Eve had given me into anything I wanted. So I was using some of them to make one of everyone in our house. I had already finished the ones representing Mama, Daddy, Aunt Eve, Uncle Elsword, and even one of me. So now I was making the ones for Miss Rena, Miss Ara, Miss Elesis, Miss Aisha, and Mister Chung. I had just finished Miss Ara's when Miss Elesis yelled for me to come over there for dinner. It was here now, that I realized how disturbing the air smelled. I knew I had detected it, but now I was paying it mind and I did not like it at all. I groaned in fact, putting a hand on my nose as I stood up and walked over there to where they were in the kitchen. Which, that was already a huge mess from all the cooking that had been done. However, the plate of purple stuff that was placed in front of me just mortified me. Mister Chung was clear across the kitchen, shaking his head in horror as he screamed and pleaded with me not to eat it.

"M-Miss Elesis, this looks..."

"Eat it! Don't listen to the idiot over there! It's good for you."

"But Miss Elesis..."

"Eat it!"

"Yes ma'am..."

So I did. It tasted horrific, and was enough to make me wish I wasn't awake. I even began wishing I was still in the forest having to eat berries. But under her watchful eye, I knew quite well I had no choice but to finish the plate. It was absolutely the worst thing I had ever eaten in my entire time of living. I'm pretty sure I had tears in my eyes as a pain began in my belly. Pain wasn't unfamiliar, I had taken a few tumbles and whatnot in the forest. However, this pain in my body was the worst thing I had ever felt as I barely caught the sound of Mister Chung muttering something softly under his breath. It was there that I felt quite sure he was uttering what Mama tells me is known as a 'prayer' to ask the divine for help. I tried not to scream and cry, so only a few tears left my eyes; Mama had taught me early in the forest that it was important to be quiet in such a dangerous place. I heard my body make a strange noise and I found myself groaning as I pushed the remainder of the plate away.

"Please no more..." I pleaded now.

"See Chung? He loved it so much that he can't stand to finish it! Just like my brother!"

Uncle Elsword had to go through this? He had to eat this cooking? He had to suffer these stomach aches? Oh I felt awful for him now. This was what it was like being raised by an older sister? I'm so glad I don't have an older sister, I'm so glad.

"Elesis, I'm pretty sure he's feeling ill now."

"Nonsense! He looks so happy!"

"Mama...Daddy...please...help me..."

It hurt. It hurt so much...my belly felt like it would explode as it made another scary noise.

The door came open soon after and I looked up, hoping so much to see my parents...or Aunt Eve...or Uncle Elsword...or all of them. I didn't have such luck, instead receiving all the other misses. All three of them came in, screaming in horror at the terrible scent and the messy kitchen as they walked in. I groaned in what I believe Mama said is called 'despair' and lay my head back down on the table. Everything hurt now and I did not want to deal with this any longer. I needed a nap...and this pain in my stomach wouldn't give me that gift that I wanted so bad even though I mentally begged for it.

"What happened in here!" screamed Miss Rena.

"Guys, Cedric looks pale!"cried Miss Ara.

Like that surprised me any...

"Pale green! Elesis, Chung! What did you do?" yelped Miss Aisha.

"It was not me! I had no part in this!" protested Mister Chung.

"I fed him a nutritional meal for his growing body!" exclaimed Miss Elesis.

"Mama...Daddy...help me..." I pleaded again.

"Aisha, don't just stand there! Get him one of your potions of something! Someone do something!" Miss Ara yelled to them sharply as she picked me up, "You poor thing!"

"Miss Ara...help...I need...I need Mama...and Daddy..."

"They aren't home yet Ceddy! But I promise we'll make you feel better!"

"Oh come on he's fine!"

"Elesis, he's three! Whatever you fed him, he's sick!"

"The way this kitchen smells, I don't want to know," Miss Rena murmured.

"You don't," replied Mister Chung, "-it was purple."

"Purple!" the girls cried in unison.

"Purple..." I whined.

"It was healthy!"

"Nothing healthy makes a child a pale sickly green!" scolded Miss Ara.

"Here, give him this!" Miss Aisha handed Miss Ara a blue vial.

"I don't want-"

The vial was uncorked and the contents poured into my mouth before I could finish speaking. The liquid tasted worse than my meal and this time I just cried in a bit of a scream as I coughed the liquid back out...right onto Miss Ara. She screamed in further horror, putting me back down on the table, before turning to shout at Miss Aisha, who immediately ran away from there. Now I was just crying, my face wet with tears and the yucky stuff I had spat back out. I wished I could spit my meal back out, I was sure I'd no longer be in this much pain anymore. Miss Rena came back with a teacup she said contained herbal tea. I drank some of it, but it was so bitter. Why does medicine have to be so bitter...? Why couldn't my Mama and my Daddy be home with me now? I wanted to throw up, as Mama says its called, but I couldn't do that. I did, however, manage to stop crying and screaming as I curled up where Miss Ara had left me on the table while she went to change her clothes. I never want to eat Uncle Elsword's sister's cooking ever again. Ever. As Miss Ara returned downstairs, everyone eventually was surrounding me trying to figure out what to do for me. However, everyone froze as they heard the door open with Daddy in the front coming in with Mama right behind him with Uncle Elsword and Aunt Eve a bit behind them outside. Looking around the room, Daddy raised an eyebrow in wonder of the mess the kitchen was and why everyone was crowded around me. I just groaned in pain as I looked at him and Mama. He probably already noticed the group sweating and shaking as they knew what they were in for now...Daddy's very smart after all.

"Hi Daddy..." I managed with a whine as he scooped me into his arms.

"W-Welcome home everyone," Miss Ara stammered.

"H-Hey..." Mister Chung managed.

"Yeah, Cedric was very good. I'm going to my room!" Miss Elesis stated.

"Get back here!" called Mister Chung, causing the woman to sigh as she stopped.

I eventually made a noise that Mama says is called a burp. Daddy's eyes widened as he saw three little purple bubbles exit my mouth and float up to his face. One ended up popping as it touched his nose and two others just popped on his hair. He blinked once, twice before slowly...mechanically turning his head toward Mister Chung and the rest of the group that were now sweating more now at the stare he must have gave them. If I had to guess, though my thinking was inhibited by the severe pain my stomach was in, Daddy gave them the stare that said 'one wrong answer and there will be consequences.' That's what Mama calls it anyway, but Daddy calls it 'one wrong answer and there will be hell to pay.' I don't know what that means, but Mama says consequences are the results of actions, both good and bad. They come in an assortment and occur with every action of any sort.

Soon after, Uncle Elsword and Aunt Eve came in the house, probably hearing the sounds. I'm guessing they now saw the sight of my angry Daddy, my worried Mama, and a fearful Mister Chung? I'm not really sure. With Miss Elesis looking in small worry with Miss Ara, Miss Aisha, and Miss Rena in the far back of the living room away from Daddy, Uncle Elsword was probably about to ask what was going on until he smelled a scent. I would suppose it was a scent he hadn't smelled since he was little under Miss Elesis's care...since she said she had cooked for him. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, not after the pain I was in. I honestly hadn't felt this much pain in a long time, but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to cry about it. I just laid in my Daddy's arms, and then Mama's when he passed me to her, groaning a little. Uncle Elsword groaned and put a hand on Daddy's shoulder, making him stop at the contact and glare at him. Clearly Daddy was about to demand what he was doing only for the next question and expression to catch my Daddy off guard.

"Chung...Please tell me sis didn't do the cooking..." Uncle Elsword asked with a slightly worried look in his eyes, Mister Chung replying with a slow nod as Miss Elesis looked away.

Aunt Eve proceeded to look at Uncle Elsword in confusion, before speaking, "Elsword...how did you know it was her cooking and what does it have to do with Raven being mad?"

Uncle Elsword just shook his head in for a second recalling the memories of his beloved sister's...unique...cooking, "I recognize the scent of her cooking anywhere dear. As much as I love her and am thankful to her, she can't cook all that well..."

He paused to shiver while probably recalling the 'meals' he had as a child, "I wouldn't be surprised if it was the reason why Cedric in groaning right now, which is why Raven is not happy," Uncle Elsword continued as he looked at me.

Mama cradled me close in a soothing embrace as she rocked me gently back and forth, whispering soothing words to me as she stood with my Daddy; probably trying to calm him down too. Eventually though, he sighed and turned to her quietly with a serious look on his face. He told her to take me upstairs, which Mama did as he dismissed the rest of them upstairs too...except Miss Elesis. She was not sent back upstairs, and I'm pretty sure that Daddy did not stop scolding her for several hours...but I wasn't awake to find out. I had fallen asleep with Mama, hoping my stomach ache would be gone tomorrow. I'd be okay, I was sure, as long as I never had to eat her cooking ever again.


	4. Story 4: The Great Birthday Dinosaur

**Hello everyone! This is a companion story to my Elsword story series consisting of _Relearning the Seraph _and _Finding the Blazing Heart._**

_**Relearning the Seraph **_**is story one of the series, mainly an ElsEve. It gives the main premise that the series is founded on, as well as why Seris is alive.****  
**

**Yes, Seris is alive. Relearning the Seraph explains why, but this story gives an inklet of a hint too.**

_**Finding the Blazing Heart**_**is the second story in the series and is a relationship between Chung and Elesis. It also contains a Pichu. **

**This story is easier understood by reading both stories. Both of stories contain the relationship between Seris and Raven, with their son Cedric. This story mainly focuses on the relationship within that miniature family. It is told entirely from Cedric's view. Because of this, the story does have a childlike language and storytelling format. **

**Please understand this if the language seems a little estranged.**

**I do not own Elsword or its characters. But I ship Elsword and Eve, Raven and Seris, and Chung with Elesis. **

**I own my conceptual format of Seris; including her class I made called Body of Light. My boyfriend and I share joint ownership of Cedric.**

**Please enjoy and review!**

* * *

**Anecdotes of a Small Child**

**~/~**

**Story 4: The Great Birthday Dinosaur**

_'So one day, Mama and I adopted a dinosaur to be our best friend!'_

So recently, as you may have noticed, I have begun to call Mommy by Mama instead. And lately I have also been getting better at saying certain things. This is because Mama taught me another word to call her, because she says I'm getting old enough to start doing things a little 'differently' she says. I asked her if this means she is no longer my Mommy and she says that it does not mean that, so I'm okay with this. Mama has also started teaching me about birthdays because she says it is actually my birthday; September 3rd. She also told me this is really amazing because my Daddy has his birthday on August 3rd. Apparently she learned my birthday when she came across some villagers on the day I woke her up because I had to be born; she wouldn't know it otherwise because forests obviously don't have helpful timekeeping devices readily at hand. She also says that her birthday is October 3rd, which means that our birthdays are in what Mama says is a linear pattern. I don't know what that means at all, but Mama says I'll learn that later; so she taught me the months in order and gave me a calender to consult.

She marked all sorts of things called 'important dates' in it, particularly the birthdays of all the people we live with. She says that now I'm four years old and am ready to learn even more things; this means that apparently a birthday is one more year since we were what's called 'born' and these are still things I don't understand. However, Mama says that birthdays mean happiness, cake, ice cream, and sometimes presents. So I don't think I really need to understand them, they sound like lots of fun! However, I was sad before this because up to my birthday for a few days, Mama and Daddy kept having to take turns disappearing for a few hours each day. I had to stay with the other one in our room and it was kind of lonely without both of them. Or without Aunt Eve and Uncle Elsword around me, but at least I was assured that Miss Elesis was not cooking today after what happened the other time she cooked. Mama actually started teaching me about my birthday a few days before today, but now it's the day and I'm extremely excited.

"Mama! Daddy! Wake up!"

"Urgh...Cedric...it is...too early to wake up," muttered Daddy.

"But Daddy! Daddy its my birthday! Its the first one I get to spend you with you and Aunt Eve and Uncle Elsword and everyone else!"

"Oh right," He smiled slightly, rolling over as Mama let out a soft yawn.

"Good morning handsome ones," she spoke up happily.

"Good morning mama!"

"Good morning, beautiful," Daddy chuckled softly, slightly pink, "-and happy birthday son. Fourth one, isn't it?"

"That's the one," Mama chuckled, "-I'm glad I can keep better track of dates here instead of having to talk to an occasional random person every few days."

"I'm just glad you're here. I thought I was going to die from grief."

"Mama! Daddy! Stop talking about sad things! It's my birthday and I want people to be happy or I'll have to hug them really tightly until they become happy!"

Mama and Daddy both started to laugh before they hugged me really close to them. This made me really happy because I seriously love these. And I love them. As well as my Aunt, my Uncle, and all the other ones. Even Miss Elesis and Mister Chung. I even love Miss Aisha, even though she's scary sometimes, because she's really nice to me. Miss Ara scared me once too when she came home with fox tails and a pair of fox ears, but I still think she's extremely awesome. She's even really pretty too, just like Mama and Aunt Eve are! Although Aunt Eve looks best when she's happy and she always looks happy around Uncle Elsword, so that makes me really glad to see.

I mean, I still think my family is weird and I still blame age, but I still love them, so yay!

"Alright so let's all get dressed and go get everything ready."

"Don't worry honey, I got this. Elesis gave me back my clothes from the laundry last night. She can't cook, but she sure can do laundry."

"Well, I already have Ceddy's little suit, and I'm really excited to see how everyone's little...projects turned out. Do you think they all ever figured that out? We were too busy to add into it."

"Eh, I think they got it. Elsword assured me that he and Eve's would be really cool. I guess I'll believe it when I see it."

"Oh I really hope so."

Eventually, Mama is in a green and white dress. It's really pretty and long, so I think it's awesome with all the lacy ruffles! Daddy ends up in his full black outfit with the white coat; Mama says its called his Blade Master uniform. She calls it 'formal' and 'functional' at the same time, since its really nice looking while being what he wears out on their missions. I still don't understand fashion, and I guess it doesn't help when Mama dresses me in a white shirt, white pants, a green jacket, and a black bowtie. Green, black, white, and sometimes yellow seem to be our colors in our family...I don't know why yet but I see them a lot along the three of us. I see a lot of colors through the house though so its okay.

"Seris! Rena, Eve, and I just finished making the meal!" called the voice of Uncle Elsword.

"Chung is still working on the cake, and we have Ara setting out all the gifts while Elesis sets the table. Aisha got stuck on the ceiling though so we're just trying to fix that..." Aunt Eve added.

"Uh..." Mama looked at the door and then opened it, "-why is Aisha...on the ceiling?"

"Well, she was trying to hang some of the decorations but she accidentally pinned her sleeve to the wall and then she slipped on her ladder. So the ladder fell and Aisha is...sort of dangling from the ceiling or at least wall edge very near it..."

I looked at Mama with wide eyes as Mama peered quietly at Uncle Elsword and Aunt Eve...then my Daddy immediately started laughing. Mama still looked pretty horrified though, but she wound up sighing as she started giggling with my father. Since I decided that it was okay now, I laughed too which caused my Aunt and Uncle to do it too. This continued while Mama carried me with her so we could all head downstairs. Of course, once we got there, we found Miss Ara flailing quite a distance beneath a very angry and screaming Miss Aisha. I had to crane my head back to see her and I couldn't help but wonder what that must feel like, being all the way up there. Somehow though...I didn't want to find out.

"Why can't you give me back the ladder?" screamed Miss Aisha.

"I-It's broken! I can't just give you a broken ladder!" cried Miss Ara.

"Then find another one, I can't just dangle on the wall! I'm not a birthday decoration!"

"Sure you are!" called Miss Elesis from the kitchen.

"Elesis, please don't-" Mister Chung tried.

"Shut up Elesis! When I get down from here, I swear-!"

"You swear what? That you'll let me set you on fire?"

"Ladies, ladies, ladies, please..." Daddy sighed, "-let's all calm down. It's my son's first birthday with all of us and we already have a little girl stuck to the wall."

"I am not a little girl!"

"Not the point Aisha! Now, where was I...oh right. Let's get the silly mage off the wall and get on with the birthday party. There should be another ladder outside in the shed, Ara."

"R-Right! On it!" called Miss Ara, running off to get outside.

Mama was still laughing a little bit as she set me down and went to the kitchen to see if she had to help with anything else. This left Daddy to take care of me and listen to Miss Aisha go on about not being a little girl or something. I don't think he really listened to her though, and I really didn't listen either because I was still looking at all the colorful papery strings all over the walls.

"Daddy! What are the colorful things?"

"Those are streamers, son."

"They look awesome!"

"Are you two even listening to me? Hurry up and get me down!"

"I don't know, I think you're better off on the wall, tabletop."

"Elsword, I swear I will-!"

"Don't hurt my husband. I warn you."

"Well...well you're a tabletop too, Eve!"

"Hey! Leave my wife alone!"

I watched Daddy facepalm while Miss Ara returned with the ladder. She went to get Miss Aisha down from the wall so soon enough everyone was seated around the dinner table in the kitchen. I was amazed at how different it looked as opposed to normal; the table even had a tablecloth this time and there was balloons tied to each of the chairs. There were more streamers around and the plates had already been set around the table. I even...had my own chair now? I blinked in surprise as Mama picked me up and sat me in the chair, which had a weird thing to help me account for my lack of height up against the table.

"I-I get my own chair now...?"

"You do!" Mama replied happily, "You have your own seat, right between your father and I!"

"We figured it was about time, so we went out and bought a new chair," Uncle Elsword responded, "Your aunt took the trouble of getting the materials and putting together the booster for you."

"I hope I made it comfortable enough," Aunt Eve chuckled a bit, "-I've been told metal isn't a comfortable surface so I had to work something out."

I laughed brightly as Uncle Elsword hugged her, kissing her cheek as he told her something about thinking her to be very comfortable and snuggly. I was just very happy! Mama's lap is comfortable, it is, but now I get to be completely part of the table. Mama smiled and patted my head once I chimed out a great thanks to them, then got me to sit on down. So this was how it went, with everyone around as we all had our dinner that had been made by my Aunt, Uncle, and by Miss Rena. It was steak, potato salad, and baked beans according to Mama. I think it was really yummy, so I didn't honestly care what it was called since it wasn't going to matter once it was off my plate. After that, Mister Chung bought down the cake he had made; which was called a marble cake with chocolate pudding as the frosting. There were four candles in it, which were carefully lit by Miss Elesis with these awesome abilities she has. She still gets nervous about those, but Chung helps her out now. They've been a couple like Mama and Daddy or Aunt Eve and Uncle Elsword since earlier in my third year; sometime after my one encounter with her cooking. They haven't become 'married' yet though, so Mama says I can't call them aunt and uncle yet so I still only have one set.

"Alright," Aunt Eve stood up after cake, clasping her hands lightly in front of her, "-before we all give Cedric his gifts, its time for his little award's ceremony."

"Do what...?" Daddy inquired.

Well that was a surprise. Why didn't Daddy know about it? I realized even Mama looked surprised, so now I was kind of scared.

"Alright! I came up with a great one!" Miss Ara cheered.

"I'm really glad I was able to get these all made by Lenphad soon enough," Mister Chung sighed, "-I gave everyone theirs, right?"

Everyone nodded at him and I just sat there, still eating a few last bites of my cake. I'm kind of a slow eater so I understand why everyone else went to the next thing once I got this far. Still, I don't understand what's going on...and clearly my parents don't either.

"Alright. I'll start us off. Cedric, everyone had little medals made to award you for some awesome things about you," Uncle Elsword chuckled, "-who's first?"

"Me!" chirped Miss Aisha, whipping a silver medal on a purple ribbon from her pocket, "Cedric, I award you this medal as an award for replacing Chung and Elsword as the youngest ones. You've saved them from a lot more teasing than they deserve."

"More Elsword than me...you're even the one that teases him actually..." muttered Mister Chung softly.

He was promptly ignored although Uncle Elsword did slightly roll his eyes with a slightly amused smile. Miss Aisha got up and put the ribbon necklace around my neck, where I picked up the medal to read. Sure enough, it was clearly imprinted 'Award for Youngest ElGang Member' and my name was in the back.

"Uh, Aisha? What about if Seris and Raven have another kid...?" Miss Rena inquired.

"Well I never said that the condition would remain!"

"H-Hey!" Daddy turned very red, while Mama began to laugh very nervously.

I ignored the events as Miss Ara giggled softly and stood up with a gold toned medal and an orange ribbon on it. I waited to see what this one was now, even dropping the other one against my chest so I could pay attention.

"Cedric, I award you this medal for being a very polite person!"

She too placed the medal around my neck. Down the line then, I got a blue ribbon silver medal from Chung for being loveable. Then Elesis gave me the red ribbon gold medal for being a good listener. Aunt Eve's pink ribbon silver medal was for my good 'anecdotes' as she called them, which apparently means my good stories once she explained it. Uncle Elsword then gave me a bronze medal on a black and pink ribbon for being so good and patient with everyone. Miss Rena gave me a silver one on a green ribbon for being such a non-picky eater. At this point, Mama and Daddy were both very happy as well as surprised. With all the medals on my neck, we moved to the living room for my presents, where I got many different things! Miss Ara gave me a pair of what she says are called 'Mochi fox ears' which I put on along with the things called prayer beads she also gave me. Miss Aisha gave me a cool robe that she says is a blue Wizardry robe. I'm not so sure about that though. Miss Elesis gave me some new clothes, Mama gave me a box that she says I get to decorate and fill with treasures, while Mister Chung gave me some art supplies with sketchpads. Daddy gave me a white coat like his, and Aunt Eve a really awesome cat tail to wear. Miss Rena gave me my very own potted plant to grow, along with stuff to help care for it. My final gift was from Uncle Elsword, and it came in the largest box. When I opened it, I couldn't really believe my eyes.

"Mama! Mama, it's Sammy! It's our dinosaur, Sammy! There really was another one!"

"What..." I narrowly picked up on Uncle Elsword's voice.

"Mama and I used to live in the forest all alone you know. We did it for three years," I stated matter-of-factly.

Clearly everyone around me was interested, although Mama was starting to giggle as I pulled the large, red stuffed dinosaur closer to me and snuggled it. So I soon continued.

"So one day, Mama and I adopted a dinosaur to be our best friend! He was huge and red, but he was extremely nice. He went everywhere with us and we called him Sammy. Sammy went swimming with us, watched out for us while we slept, ate grass, and was really nice to us!"

I'm not sure why, but Mama was starting to laugh more. She was up and away from the table, my Daddy sort of glancing between the two of us. He didn't seem to know what to think, although Aunt Eve had a small smile on her face...and everyone else looked rather horrified. I really wasn't sure why, but I kept talking anyway. Maybe hearing more about Sammy would cheer them up!

"Everytime something scary was after Mama and I, Sammy would give this loud roar to scare it away! Nothing ever got to hurt us, because Sammy was looking out for us all the time! One day, Sammy even helped me find this!" I pulled a small statue of an angel out of my pocket.

Everyone just blinked, staring as Mama sank down against a wall continuing to laugh. The others, aside from Daddy and Aunt Eve looked pretty weary still. I don't get it...why aren't they happy?

I sighed, "But one day, Mama and I accidentally left Sammy too close to the forest's lake and the lake ate our dinosaur. He wasn't a good swimmer yet, so I was really sad. But Mama has promised since then that I'd find another Sammy, and now Uncle Elsword got me one!"

I held up the dinosaur and it was at this point that everyone else breathed some sort of deep sigh. It was like they were relieved, and now I was just confused so I snuggled Sammy close while my Mama tried to stop laughing. I wonder what made my Mama laugh so hard. It was okay though, because everyone else finally joined her in laughter. I was confused, but still I was really happy when the singing started.

"Happy birthday to you," began Uncle Elsword and Aunt Eve.

"Happy birthday to you," Mama and Daddy joined them.

"Happy birthday dear Cedric," Miss Elesis and Mister Chung added in.

"Happy birthday to you," Miss Ara, Miss Aisha, and Miss Rena finally popped along.

"From good friends and true,

From old friends and new,

May good luck go with you,

And happiness too," everyone finished the song to me.

"Thank you everyone!" I cheered happily.

"You're welcome Ceddy," Mama responded.

"Of course son," Daddy chuckled.

"It's nice to have you here, honestly," Uncle Elsword laughed.

"It's great to see Raven this happy too," Mister Chung added.

"I think you'll keep being a good kid," Miss Elesis smiled at me.

"You're alright. I'm glad we have you here," Miss Aisha giggled.

"I'm really happy too! You're great to be around!" Miss Rena exclaimed.

"You can count on us Cedric! We're all family here!" chimed Miss Ara.

"It's an honor," Aunt Eve chuckled, "-really it is, honestly."

I knew quite well that wasn't something my aunt said much...I really am a lucky kid. Not everyone can claim to have this many awesome people in one place everyday. Even if they are all weird, I still love them all. Them...and my dinosaur, Sammy.


	5. Story 5: The White Nightingale

**Hello everyone! This is a companion story to my finished Elsword story series consisting of _Relearning the Seraph, __Finding the Blazing Heart, and Embracing the Future._**

_**Relearning the Seraph **_**is story one of the series, mainly an ElsEve. It gives the main premise that the series is founded on, as well as why Seris is alive.****  
**

**Yes, Seris is alive. Relearning the Seraph explains why, but this story gives an inklet of a hint too.**

_**Finding the Blazing Heart**_**is the second story in the series and is a relationship between Chung and Elesis. It also contains a Pichu. **

**_Embracing the Future_ is the third story in the series, and currently the final unless I write more.**

**This story is easier understood by reading all three stories. All stories contain the relationship between Seris and Raven, with their son Cedric. This story mainly focuses on the relationship within that miniature family. It is told entirely from Cedric's view. Because of this, the story does have a childlike language and storytelling format. ****Please understand this if the language seems a little estranged.**

**For this chapter, Alma from _Embracing the Future_ is added. This explains her story some, but for the full picture, please read _Embracing the Future._**

**I do not own Elsword or its characters. But I ship Elsword and Eve, Raven and Seris, and Chung with Elesis. **

**I own my conceptual format of Seris; including her class I made called Body of Light. My boyfriend and I share joint ownership of Cedric. I own Alma.  
**

**Please enjoy and review!**

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**Anecdotes of a Small Child**

**~/~**

**Story 5: The White Nightingale**

"_She's my best friend! I want to make sure nothing bad ever happens to her again!"_

"Mama! Mama, Alma memorized all the vegetable names I taught her yesterday!"

Miss Alma was laughing as she followed me into our room with Mama and Daddy. Mama giggled softly as she looked over to us then, tilting her head as I jumped up onto the bed and hugged her. Miss Alma lingered away, humming as she walked over to where she left a book she was reading earlier. I wasn't sure why she chose to do that, but I was too proud of her to ask myself that at the time. You see, Miss Alma is a child that Mama and Daddy recently adopted after the other members of the El Gang bought her home. Things weren't always so well with her though, because she was extremely angry, and even hit me when she first woke up. I remember these events so well because they were also on the same day that Aunt Eve built Uncle Elsword a child, a little lady I call Miss Mira. Mama told me she's technically titled Cousin Mira but we both agreed that Miss Mira sounds much better. She seemed to prefer it too.

"Cedric is a really good teacher!" Miss Alma finally chimed in after sometime.

"Well that's good," Daddy spoke as he entered the room, "Great job, Ceddy."

I grinned in delight, but couldn't help thinking back to those days sometime ago...

_I had been poking at Miss Alma's face, while she slept on the couch. Apparently Miss Aisha or someone had knocked her unconscious because she had become scary and mean towards them. I just wanted to know if I could be friends with her, and eventually Miss Mira ended up poking my face as she stood nearby. So the cycle went on and on for a little while. This was going on while everyone tried to name Miss Mira in the first place. Just as Miss Mira confirmed that she had names..._

"_Good! I have names!"cheered Miss Mira._

_...Miss Alma woke up and immediately screamed, slapping me away from her. I actually traveled a distance and struck the floor with a force I had never quite known. Mama had always protected me in the forest and she was a nice parent alongside Daddy. I had literally never been struck before in my whole four years of life._

"_Get away from me!" she had screamed as she hit me._

_Why? Why did she do that...?_

_I couldn't understand and my body was hurting now, so I ended up crying. My Mama came running for me while Daddy turned towards Miss Alma. We didn't know her name at the time though and in fact, she didn't remember it. So she ended up receiving the name of Alma from my Daddy, so then I started calling her Miss Alma. However, Mama and Daddy had been extremely angry Mama had in fact been about to deal the strike right back to Miss Alma in my stead until my Daddy talked her down. So Mama returned to me, Miss Mira coming with her as they consoled me. Miss Alma even ended up kicking Daddy in the face...it just hadn't been good at all. I did approach her again though, when I finally recovered, because I decided I may have scared her. I climbed the couch and embraced her, even when Miss Mira tried to call me back..._

_"I'm sorry I scared you...I just want to be your friend..."_

_Miss Mira blinked, then ran over too, hugging both of us, "I want to be friends too!"_

_"Get off of me! Get off me, now!" screamed the girl, struggling more._

"_Alma," Daddy nodded suddenly._

_That was when he named her...and soon we adopted her into our family..._

_"I'm on your side dear. Promise," Mama nodded, complete faith in my Daddy._

_"Thank you dear," He replied softly._

_"This is an outrage!" screamed Miss Alma in fury._

Our battles didn't end there though, because we still had to save Miss Alma from herself. Strange events led to Miss Mira, Miss Alma, Tyrell -Rena's younger brother, and I all getting trapped in a frozen line of time within our dreams by ourselves. We got trapped in a battle against a golem in this frozen timespace, where then Miss Alma finally began to fight back against the terrible anger inside her. I remember it so vidily, Miss Alma desperately holding Tyrell and I in her effort to keep us safe, while screaming that a voice within her was demanding that she kill us all. I still really don't know much about how this all happened to us because Mama and Daddy never did end up explaining it to me either. All I remember is how different Miss Alma was being, how scared I was for her safety, and how desperate I was to see her win the war.

_"Miss Alma...! Miss Mira...!"_

_"Ugh..." Miss Mira grumbled, fighting to reach her feet._

_"Cedric..." groaned Miss Alma, "-if I don't get back...tell your parents that I'm sorry..."_

_"No, that's not okay! That's not okay! Miss Alma...! Miss Mira...!"_

_"Defending those I care about is honorable. I can be repaired...you cannot..." Miss Mira managed_

_"I am too dark within to protect, Cedric...please don't cry for me..." Miss Alma stated_

_"I will cry for whoever I want to! Don't tell me what to do!"_

_I refused to accept that Miss Alma could not be saved...I refused to accept this darkness she claimed was inside of her._

_I rejected it, as my Mama once taught me the term. Rejected. Verb meaning to refuse._

It was during this time that I learned an important lesson from watching Miss Alma. I learned that the war against yourself is neither won nor lost...it is unending... I remember Miss Mira fighting that golem, debris flying everywhere and injuring them both. I remember how much I hated that I couldn't help them...that knowing I couldn't help defend them was breaking my heart. But I was too young, I still am, so I can't wield a weapon yet. Miss Alma didn't have a weapon during that time either, hence why she was just holding Tyrell and I while acting as a human shield against the debris. Anyway, Mama eventually transcended into the timespace to help us by using her light abilities to resonate with the darkness in Alma, but this resulted in all of us falling from the dimension, landing in an alternate world where Uncle Elsword was a king instead, with Aunt Eve as his royal knight. Mama later did explain to me that only our souls were moving around, that our bodies were still at our home, and that Daddy was probably extremely worried. As was Miss Rena, Aunt Eve, and Uncle Elsword.

While we were there, we learned...

"Cedric! Look, I found a book about something called fruit! Can you teach me about fruits next?"

I looked over to Miss Alma as her voice broke into my thoughts, before grinning at her.

"Of course I can! Maybe we can make a huge fruit salad for everyone tomorrow!"

"That sounds so delicious!" She cried, running over to me and embracing me.

I ended up laughing as she plucked me off the bed and twirled around in circles with me. I am tinier than her after all, my weight is nothing to her. She's six years old, two years over me, but she is a fighter like Miss Mira now. However, she and Mama explained to me that the only reason she fights and I don't is because she was raised by a famous sword building family. That most six year old children don't wield weapons, and even Miss Alma told me that I shouldn't rush to fight. I understood then, realizing it was more of a difficulty for children, that children shouldn't have to fight. Miss Mira was a fighter because she was an android child who wanted to train with her parents...Miss Alma was forced into it due to her bloodline...but no one was pushing me to go anywhere too early. No circumstances were approaching that were going to push me. It actually made me thankful when it was put that way.

"Fruit is great Miss Alma! You'll love it, I promise!"

"I can't wait!" she cheered.

Miss Alma is called a Moon Maiden, a Relivu who wields a weapon called The Sword of a Thousand Moons. It's a cursed fate though that Alma inherited from her bloodline, from the Relivu bloodline...

_"Your great grandfather built that sword?" King Elsword inquired._

_"Seriously? You shattered it...? Why...?" asked Miss Eve, in monotone._

_"She probably shattered it because wasn't that sword dangerous at one time?" wondered Miss Ara._

_"Yeah. That sword had controlling properties beyond life's handle," Miss Rena stated._

_"How did a little girl shatter it?" pondered Mister Raven._

_"She can't be ordinary," Miss Elesis murmured._

_"I think that was obvious," Mister Chung responded._

_Miss Mira tilted her head, biting her lip as she furrowed her brows, I remember her face being so worried. I was worried deeply as well. I ended up leaning on Alma, holding her in concern as she spoke up to answer the alternates' questions._

_"The Sword of a Thousand Moons," Miss Alma echoed the name, "-it was my grandfather's greatest work. A sword that could defy all probability. A sword that could cut through diamond. A sword that could bend time and space. A sword that could have divided the entire world. A sword that could revive the dead. A sword that was only worth its strength in the hands of any of my great grandfather's descendents, but people sought it for its abilities without understanding this fact. My family was hunted, for that sword."_

_I watched King Elsword eyes widen as Miss Eve tilted her head. Everyone was now expressing shock. Miss Alma's family had thus been hunted for this sword? Only for this sword? I couldn't believe it..._

_"Alma..." Miss Aisha managed, "-is the legend true? Is a piece of the sword locked in someone's heart?"_

_I saw Miss Alma frown, then look away, seemingly ignoring the question as she spoke further, "It was a sword that would curse anyone who destroyed it. When the Raven of our world was tearing through Velder during his rampage, I was tasked to destroy the sword. Some of my family begged me not to, begged me not to take the curse. But the sword had became a curse to everyone else...so using an ability I have residing in me from my family bloodline...I shattered it. I carry it's curse now..."_

_"An ability?" Miss Rena inquired._

_Miss Alma closed her eyes, "My name is Alma Relivu. I'm sure you know the bloodline. Our sword has named us the Bloodline of the Cursed Blade."_

_"Relivu!" Miss Aisha cried out, "How could that be? The use of their sword shattering ability usually kills them! How can you be alive?"_

_"Because of the sword I shattered. That sword's last usage was prevention of my death."_

_"Wow..." Miss Mira murmured._

_"Alma..." I gasped, realizing now that she was more than everyone had thought._

_"You didn't answer Aisha's question," Miss Elesis pressed finally, "-is a piece of the sword actually in someone's heart?"_

"Hey Cedric?"

Miss Alma had stopped whirling me around now and she was looking at me seriously now. I saw Mama and Daddy discussing something as they sat together on the bed. I stared up at Miss Alma, marveling at how she had changed. When Miss Alma had come to us, her hair had been this dark purple and her eyes colored like a rust color. However, becoming the Moon Maiden had changed her appearance drastically. Her hair was now a sheer, pure white. Whiter than even Aunt Eve's hair. A slight pink tint toned it too, as her eyes now shone crystal blue. One of her pupils was a normal circle, the other a crescent shape, a shape representative of her Moon Maiden title. She was so unique, and she was definitely a word that Daddy called Mama several times a day; she was beautiful.

"Yes Miss Alma?"

She bit her lip, "Why...why did you hug me that day? Even after I hit you?"

"Because...I knew you needed one."

"I...needed one?"

"Mama says hugs make people happy. You needed to be happy, so I wanted to give you a hug."

"Cedric..."

"I was worried Miss Alma...when you were so angry. You deserved to be happy. And Miss Alma, you still do."

"Oh...Oh Cedric...I...I don't deserve such kind words. I don't even deserve this family..."

"Yes you do!" I cried, pressing my face onto her shoulder, "Miss Alma, you suffered enough! You need to be happy and I'm...I'm going to help...!"

I felt Miss Mira look behind us at Mama and Daddy. I don't know what happened during that instant as she held tightly to me...but I do know that I meant my words.

"Our boy is so mature for four years old..." Mama's voice murmured.

"Well. He does have the best Mama in the world."

"And the best Daddy, dear."

I pulled my head back and looked up at Miss Alma, who had tears in her eyes.

"Thank you Cedric. For accepting me."

"You're welcome Miss Alma...please don't worry. We're glad you're here."

"I'm glad I'm here too..."

"_I just want you to know who I am," I sang to her to end the song, on my own._

"I just want you to know who I am," I sang softly to her as I lay my head on her shoulder.

"Thank you. I'll always know who you are, Cedric..."

There's a lot to Miss Alma's story...but it can wait for later.

There's a lot more to write to her story...and I swear I'll try to help her as she goes.

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**Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed and please review!**

**To request an Anecdote, leave the idea in the reviews or PM me.**


	6. Story 6: A Gift for Alma

**Hello everyone! This is a companion story to my finished Elsword story series consisting of _Relearning the Seraph, __Finding the Blazing Heart, and Embracing the Future._**

_**Relearning the Seraph **_**is story one of the series, mainly an ElsEve. It gives the main premise that the series is founded on, as well as why Seris is alive.****  
**

**Yes, Seris is alive. Relearning the Seraph explains why, but this story gives an inklet of a hint too.**

_**Finding the Blazing Heart**_**is the second story in the series and is a relationship between Chung and Elesis. It also contains a Pichu. **

**_Embracing the Future_ is the third story in the series, and currently the final unless I write more.**

**This story is easier understood by reading all three stories. All stories contain the relationship between Seris and Raven, with their son Cedric. This story mainly focuses on the relationship within that miniature family. It is told entirely from Cedric's view. Because of this, the story does have a childlike language and storytelling format. ****Please understand this if the language seems a little estranged.**

**For this chapter, Alma from _Embracing the Future_ is added. This explains her story some, but for the full picture, please read _Embracing the Future._**

**I do not own Elsword or its characters. But I ship Elsword and Eve, Raven and Seris, and Chung with Elesis. **

**I own my conceptual format of Seris; including her class I made called Body of Light. My boyfriend and I share joint ownership of Cedric. I own Alma.  
**

**Please enjoy and review!**

* * *

**Anecdotes of a Small Child**

**~/~**

**Story 6: A Gift for Alma**

"_Mama how do I help? I can't let this happen!"_

"Alma!"

"Alma, be careful!"

I startled awake from where I was taking my noontime nap on the couch. Startled by the voices of my parents crying out to Miss Alma, I climbed down and went to the door, finding Miss Alma kneeling on the floor her hands clapped over her ears as she trembled. Her sword was in front of her, my parents on either side of her, with their hands on her shoulders.

"Miss Alma!" I cried out, rushing to them and her.

"Cedric..." she whined softly, lifting her head.

Her eyes were full of tears as she reached out to me weakly. I quickly wrapped my tiny arms around her, looking at Mama in confusion. Daddy was biting his lip lightly, concerned while my Mama sighed.

"Ceddy, Alma almost absorbed another emotion today..." Mama spoke to me.

Alma released another wail as she plopped her head against my little shoulder, screeching in some form of horror. I winced a bit, but looked at them worriedly as I held her.

"W-What emotion, M-Mama?"

"Despair..." Mama sighed, "-we had to go fight Ara's possessed brother today. The despair Ara was left with after his escape despite her trying to reach him...well, Alma almost took it..."

"She did end up with part of it..." Daddy noted, "-as you can see. So...we had to bring her home..."

"Cedric...!" she wailed now, again as she curled tightly into herself, screaming painfully.

I almost couldn't stand it. Not only did it hurt my ears, but the fact that this was a constant danger Miss Alma had to face...it broke my heart. Why? Why did she have to take on something like that? She pretty much was in constant war with both herself and with human emotion. It killed me...and I knew it hurt my Mama and Daddy to see as well. Carefully, I tried to soothe Miss Alma by patting her head and just holding her like I was while she sobbed it out on my shoulder. I didn't know what else to do.

"Mama how do I help? I can't let this happen!" I cried.

"I don't know yet, Ceddy..."

"Cedric, where's Rena at it? We're going to let her know we bought Alma here, and then we have to get back to Hamel. The others are waiting on us and trying to get Ara to settle," Daddy asked me carefully..

"She's in the kitchen with Tyrell, Daddy."

Daddy walked off then as Mama knelt down with me and Miss Alma. My Mama's blond hairs curtained around us as she held Miss Alma and I close. Softly and gently, she carefully sang to us in a near silent lullaby voice.

_**"**__**Sanctus Espiritus, redeem us from our solemn hour...  
Sanctus Espiritus, insanity is all around us...**_

_** Sanctus Espiritus, is this what we deserve?  
Can we break free from chains of never ending agony?"**_ she sang softly to us.

"Mama?" I asked, "What does that mean?"

"Well Ceddy...its from a song. And for that, the listener has to draw their own meaning..."

"I can't break free..." Alma whined softly against my shoulder, "I never could..."

Mama frowned, "Alma...fates always change..."

I held Miss Alma tighter, closing my eyes as I let the lyric sink against my memory. She just held to me, choking on another sob. I sighed slowly, holding her as best as I could as Mama released us both.

"It'll be okay. We'll lead you out of the dark, Alma."

Mama walked away then herself, and I just held onto Miss Alma, forcing myself not to cry. I knew if I let myself lose control of my emotions, then I'd endanger her all over again. I couldn't believe how awful this was, and how powerless not just me but _**all **_of us were to stop it. Resting my head against hers, I wondered how this was possible. Mama, back when she and I roamed the forests, always told me that children were young beings who were never meant to suffer. Sure she did warn me that some children weren't so fortunate. I also learned recently from Mama taking me to an alchemist named Echo that Mama trained my intellect and demeanor...a bit too well. Echo and most of the town of Elder all remarked that I was acting way above my age. Yet they all also noticed most of my naivety was intact, something that baffled them. I sighed though, frustrated that none of this could help me save Alma.

"Cedric. Put Alma on the couch and come here a moment."

I looked at Alma, before helping her to the couch. She sat there for a second...then flopped onto her side, curled into a ball, and released a painfully upset whine. I resisted the urge to hug her again and ran back to where Daddy had called for me.

"Cedric, dear, we're heading back out again. But Rena has an idea to help Alma so please listen to her, okay?" Daddy told me gently.

"We'll be back very soon Ceddy, I promise," Mama added softly.

"Okay Mama, okay Daddy..."

They left soon after, leaving me with Miss Rena. I looked up at the blond elven lady that looked just a little bit like my Mama. She was holding her little brother as normal, smiling at me with this...oddly mischievous grin. Furrowing my brows, I tilted my head.

"How do we help?"

"I want you to do a couple things. First, go ahead and bring Alma here to make a fruit salad. I noticed she really liked the one you two made last week. Second, after that I want you guys to stay out of the kitchen. I'm going to make a nice meal and I need the kitchen space. Third, while you guys are out of the kitchen, I want you to spend the day with her and have fun. Okay? I actually have a bunch of paint and stuff downstairs, you guys can finger paint. I had Tyrell do it earlier and he enjoyed it."

"Okay."

"But before any of that, I'm going to explain one other thing."

"What?"

"I'm going to enchant these."

Miss Rena held up a pair of thick pink ribbons. The ribbons each had a small heart shaped pendant, with a circular gem on the edge of the heart. Right now, both were clear gems...

"What are those?"

"These are pair of mood pendants. I'm going to modify them with a special elven magic that my Elder taught me me yesterday evening."

"Mood...can they help Miss Alma?"

"No. They can't override her curse and neither can the magic I have. Alma will always be in danger. But, these will help us know when she is. I'm going to bind these necklaces so that they do the same thing at the same time, no matter what. When your Mama gets home, I'm going to have her imbue them with a special light magic she has called Telepathic Recovery. Remember when your Mama broke into that nightmare time stop you guys fell in?"

"Yes, I do..."

"She used Telepathic Recovery to slip into Alma's nightmare, and then break into the time freeze to rescue you all. My plan is that with these necklaces imbued with these magics, you'll be able to help Alma with her emotions...even from faraway."

"I...can help? But...why are you having me do it? Mama has more love than I do..."

"Because Alma doesn't reach out to your Mama. She reaches out to_**you**_, Cedric..."

I thought about that for a moment, only to realize how true it was. Miss Rena was right, Miss Alma did reach out to me. It was hard to believe, since she had started out hating me as much as she had hated everyone else. But...it was true... When I noticed Miss Alma's torn nails in the time stop, she was angry yes...but she told Miss Mira and I what had happened. Not only that, but it was for Tyrell and I that Miss Alma chose to stand up against herself to guard us, while Miss Mira waged war on that golem.

"_Alma, are you okay?"_

"_I am fine Cedric...I will guard you, even if it costs my life. I am sorry, for every horrible thing I may have said. Something within me is wrong, please understand..."_

"I never realized..."

"Even just now. When she came home, I watched from the kitchen doorway as she said your name and reached out to you. She trusts you."

"Why..."

"Considering her life Cedric...that's not something you should question."

I remember when we found out that the piece of her sword was lodged in her heart. How hard I cried, holding onto her, realizing how awful that was. I was scared. I thought she would have to be hurt to retrieve the sword. I remember when Mira bought me to help sing for her, during the fight Alma had against her demonic alternate. I remember how much I wanted to be more help...

"I'll do it. I want to help. I'm tired of not being able to do any aid."

Miss Rena nodded gently, "Go get Alma and start your fruit salad. I'll enchant these on my own."

"Okay..."

I darted off as Miss Rena left the kitchen and headed to her room. I ran back to Miss Alma, immediately giving her a huge yet careful hug as I tried to help her sit back up.

"Miss Alma! Let's go make a fruit salad!" I chimed to her.

She opened her eyes slowly and looked at me, a slight glimmer of hope returning to her face. It was like what I said was magic, and she sat up carefully. Although not as enthusiastic as normal, she still stood up and ran with me as I rushed back to the kitchen with her.

"Let's do this!"

"Okay, Cedric!"

I began taking fruit after fruit from the fridge, having Alma name every single one like she usually does.  
"Those are apples! And oranges. These are bananas, those are mangos. This one is starfruit! Ooh, kiwis!"

Slowly, but surely, I watched the lights come to her eyes again. Every single time she named a fruit, she paused in her sentence and looked at me. With every nod I gave her, she grinned even more in delight, the lights coming true in her crystal eyes. Oh thank God...she was out of despair...!

"Give me more, I'll name them off! You're the best teacher ever, Cedric!"

"You got it, more fruit coming up!"

I began pulling out even more fruits for her, almost in disbelief towards the fact that I had taught her all these. I couldn't believe it. The smile on her face only grew more, the light increasing in those bright blue eyes of hers. Finally she was okay again, at least for now.

"These are clementines! Ooh and those are pears. Cherries! Strawberries there, and those are grapes!"

"You're great at these!"

"Thanks Cedric! Those are peaches...and that's pineapple! Some watermelon...cantaloupe...and honeydew!"

I smiled and closed the fridge, giving her a huge hug. She was so great at learning these!

"Great job, Miss Alma!"

"I had help from you."

"I was glad to, Miss Alma."

Patting her shoulder, I led her to the sink with our fruits so we could wash them off. They were already cut fruits that Mama had sliced us and put into containers for whenever no one was available to cut them for us. Due to that, all we had to do was rinse them a bit, then put them in a bowl and mix them all up. We put some into two bowls, added some plain yogurt on top, then put wrap on the big bowl, placing that back into the fridge for now.

"Miss Rena told me we could go paint downstairs! She has a bunch of finger paints she was having Tyrell play with!"

"Paint? That sounds fun!"

Grabbing two spoons for our salads, she and I raced on to the downstairs floor, where Rena had a ton of paints scattered around. The stone floor there was covered in this enormous sheet of paper, and while I had no idea where they got it, I realized it looked fun. Several marks were on the paper from Tyrell already, but it sure looked like messy business.

"Let's eat first and then paint," I recommended.

"I should probably change my clothes so I don't get paint on my armored outfit."

I looked down at my black pants and green tanktop. Nothing to miss, I had other stuff. Alma was right though, that stuff was her armor. She was wearing a long thick skirt, a long sleeve shirt, and this metal plated long coat that covered her vitals. All colored in purple and white. I had no idea how she moved in it...and I realized I didn't really need to know. I nodded to her though, agreeing to her idea.

"You probably should..."

She gently hummed in reply as she began to eat, with me soon joining her. Before long, we had finished, and she had changed clothes. She now wore shorts and a shirt like I was. Not to mention she was now painting a smiley face on my cheek much to my amusement.

"It tickles!" I cried out.

"Stay still, you're going to make it a sad face!"

I squeaked softly, dipping my finger in the red paint and smudging a little wobbly heart on her forehead. She laughed then in some form of amusement as she finished the weird smiling face on my cheek. Before I knew much else, my inner four year old kicked in and we were happily painting each other like the world was perfect. My black hair wasn't the best canvas, but she amused herself by covering my arms in random markings of colors while she herself accidentally got paints of all colors in her hair while I merrily painted her face with a bunch of colorful polka dots. We eventually kept making handprints and footprints on the gigantic paper, even rolling each other through puddles of paint and covering the paper in huge messes of paint. We had completely avoided Tyrell's area all together and had massively coated this large percentage of paper in thousands of randomly strewn streaks of paint. It was like an odd rainbow at this point. Eventually we wore ourselves out and just flopped right on top of the mess we made, face up towards the ceiling...before we burst into massive fits of laughter.

"I swear...! I love it here!" She cried out breathlessly, "I would have never been allowed to do this back during my days at home..."

"What? Why not?"

"Because I was tasked as a blacksmith with my family. That was my task. No child's play. Just...building swords...and other stuff."

"That's...so cruel..."

"That's why I'm glad Mama and Papa aren't making you into a fighter. They aren't training you. Mira...she chose to be trained...and I was raised on it. But you...you deserve your childhood. It's too late for me, but I'm thankful for these moments...where you give me my childhood anyway."

"I'll always do my best to give you that. It's not too late. You're still six, I'm still four."

"You've got a point, Cedric...you're such a wise child."

"I do my best..."

She smiled, giggling softly as she lay her hand lightly on my wrist.

"I'm so glad..."

Miss Alma emitted a soft yawn as she crawled closer, softly laying her head on the front of my shoulder. She gave a few breaths, each growing lighter, before I realized the girl had fallen asleep right there. I just lie there, my eyelids fluttering as I caught my breath...before dozing off with her.

"_**Just close your eyes  
The sun is going down  
You'll be alright  
No one can hurt you now  
Come morning light  
You and I'll be safe and sound..."**_

I eventually woke up to a loud screeching squeal. Opening my eyes very slowly, I wondered how long I had been asleep. Miss Alma was still long asleep against my shoulder as I realized the squeal came from Miss Rena.

"Oh my God, they're so cute!" she screeched.

"Wow. They need baths," was all Daddy said.

"Oh Raven! Look how cute they are!"

"They are cute. But they need baths."

"Well...yeah. So wait, what did you need me to do, Rena?"

"Oh! Come with me, I'll show you!"

I listened to the retreating footsteps, before softly calling to my Daddy. He came over and looked down to me, chuckling a bit. I peered up at him, at the growing little smile on his face. I don't think he's ever looked so completely amused before. I wonder what was so funny?

"She looks happy. Did you two have fun?"

"We did. We painted after we ate our fruit salad."

"I bet that cheered her up."

"She was laughing like a ringing bell."

He smiled as he knelt down beside us, being cautious of the paint. Gently, he ruffled my hair and shook his head.

"I'm glad."

"Hmm..." Miss Alma mumbled softly before slowly sitting up and shaking her head softly, giving another gentle yawn.

Daddy just chuckled, offering both of us his hand, "Come on you two. Let's get you two bathed. Alma, hop into the bath down here. I'll take Cedric upstairs and have Seris deliver you some clothes."

"Okay!"

Daddy picked me up and I waved to Miss Alma as she walked off to the bathroom with a smile thrown to me. After he stopped to talk to Mama, he was handed one of the necklaces, and given the explanation Miss Rena gave me earlier.

"This will really help?"

"It's worth a try, isn't it?"

"Got a point. Alright then."

He proceeded to take me to the tub then, filling it with warm water for me while I happily chattered away about all of the painting Miss Alma and I did. Soon enough, he had set new clothes out, and told me to put the necklace on after my bath.

"It's meant to fit just a bit tightly. So when you tie it, the charm is probably going to touch your throat, alright?"

"Alright."

"Mama taught you how to tie knotted bows, right?"

"Of course!"

"That's what you tie in this case."

"Okay!"

After all the bathing and clothing changing, I was soon at the dinner table with Alma and the rest of the ElGang. Surely enough, Alma wore the matching necklace. Even though I wasn't used to the slight pressure against my neck yet, I knew it wasn't endangering. Daddy had told me to make sure I could fit at least two fingers under the ribbon.

"So basically Alma and Cedric are linked by telepathic necklaces? Wow! That's so cool!" cried Miss Aisha.

"I'm...not going to lie, that's awesome..." Miss Elesis stated.

"Yeah, seriously. Telepathic emotions and stuff," Uncle Elsword chuckled.

"I think that's great! It should help Alma!" Miss Mira chirped.

"Good, I'm glad," Aunt Eve chimed in.

"Yeah...cool..." Miss Ara mumbled softly.

Miss Rena immediately shot Miss Ara a glare...while the jewel on the necklaces turned dark blue and Miss Alma began to frown. I noticed this quite quick and immediately poked Miss Alma on the cheek a couple times.

"Knock knock!" I cried to her.

She perked, looking at me with confused eyes, "W-Who's there?"

"Fuzzy."

"F-Fuzzy who?"

"Fuzzy Phoru!" I cheered, before hugging her and laughing as soon as she did too.

"They are pretty fuzzy!" She giggled.

The jewels on our necklaces gave way back to the soft pink color they had started as, but I wasn't done with it yet. I paused as Miss Ara recovered herself and Mama shook her head with a chuckle before I went on with my next joke.

"Who came out of the lake to eat all the bad guys?"

"Who?"

"Sammy the giant dinosaur!"

Mama broke down laughing this time, laying her head on the table as the rest of the group facepalmed. Miss Alma cheered though, clapping happily as I patted her shoulder and sat back down.

"What is up with the Sammy thing? That story was so weird," Miss Aisha sighed.

"From the way it sounds, they were accompanied by a kind giant red phoru," Miss Rena giggled, "I think its sweet."

"Nope! It was a giant dinosaur!" I chimed in.

Mama shook her head, "Yes, it was a dinosaur, just like the one Elsword gave him for his birthday. But this one made noises."

Mama did this strange thing with her eye called a wink and the group suddenly gave a collective 'Ohhhh!' while I just shrugged, not seeing the big deal in it. I laughed instead and put a dab of yogurt on Alma's nose instead. Which made her burst into laughter again, and warmed my heart the same time.

It was such a better sound for her than the wails of her pain...

* * *

**Okay let's see here...**

**The song from Seris is called _Our Solemn Hour _by Within Temptation.**

**The insert is _Safe and Sound_ by Taylor Swift (though Julia Sheer does a better cover of it in my opinion)**

**To clear up any loose ends over Sammy: Seris was laughing during that chapter because the ElGang was horrified. They were thinking of the Giant Red Phoru. When in reality, Sammy was just another stuffed dinosaur that Seris used to throw her voice to create sounds for, in order to entertain Cedric.**

**Also the song in the prior chapter was a line from _Iris _by Goo Goo Dolls. Forgot to credit that last chapter, sorry.**

**I hope the necklace idea wasn't too silly, but I figured it was at least a little workaround for them to use for Alma.**

**Reviews are love! Hope everyone enjoyed!**


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